NSSN TUC Congress Rally in Brighton: ‘Fight together to scrap the Tory pay cap!’ – 1pm Sunday September 10th in the Arundel Suite in the Holiday Inn, 137 King’s Rd BN1 2JF.
Confirmed speakers: Labour Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Len McCluskey Unite General Secretary, Mark Serwotka PCS General Secretary, Steve Gillan POA General Secretary, Ronnie Draper BFAWU General Secretary, Sean Hoyle RMT President, Amy Murphy USDAW Southern Division NEC member and Len Hockey Secretary Unite Barts NHS Trust branch – currently on strike. Chaired by Janice Godrich PCS National President – all welcome! We will also be giving a platform to speakers from other current disputes to build solidarity Facebook event
The NSSN is again organising a rally at TUC Congress to fight for a strategy to take on the Tories and the employers. At the end of 2011, 2 million public sector workers went on strike together to defend their pensions. It shook Cameron and the Tories but they were let off the hook by conservative union leaders and the cuts offensive stepped up a gear. We have to organise to make sure that history doesn’t repeat itself in 2017.
The General Election result has shocked the Tories and the media but it has confirmed that we’ve had enough of brutal cuts. Jeremy Corbyn’s manifesto gave workers the opportunity to express their anger.
On the massive March 26th 2011 TUC demonstration, up to 750,000 trade unionists and anti-cuts campaigners marched against Cameron’s austerity plans. The NSSN produced a flyer that day that warned “This is the fight of our lives…literally.” The tragedy of Grenfell has laid bare the effects of cut-backs, privatisation and de-regulation that the Tories call ‘red-tape’ but actually protect lives. The likes of Boris Johnson praise emergency services workers, yet as Mayor he closed 10 London fire stations and sacked 600 firefighters.
Now workers have had their confidence lifted and many feel that this weak Tory Government, propped up by the DUP, can be defeated. One of the first targets is to break the 1% pay cap that has seen public sector workers lose 14% of their income in real terms. Teachers are also fighting school funding cuts and NHS workers want the vicious £22billion STP attacks scrapped.
Workers will be asking: “If the Tories can find £1billion from their ‘magic money tree’ to do a deal with the DUP, why can’t we have a pay rise or why can’t the cuts be stopped?”
We cancelled our 11th annual conference on July 1st to build for the emergency Peoples Assembly demonstration that was called days after the election. We called for the TUC and the unions to put themselves at the leadership of the march to mobilise the strength of the organised working-class. We support TUC Congress motions from fighting unions such as PCS that call for the launch of a real mass struggle of demonstrations and strikes, looking to co-ordinate across the public sector. This could reach out to the increasing number of disputes in the private sector.
A real bold campaign is the best way to overcome the higher voting thresholds in the new Tory Trade Union Act. Although ultimately we can’t allow undemocratic anti-union laws to stop our members defeating pay poverty that has seen nurses and other public sector workers forced to go to foodbanks – particularly from a government that couldn’t win a majority!
Let’s finish off the Tories, their pay cap and the rest of their austerity!
website – www.shopstewards.net email – [email protected] twitter – @NSSN_AntiCuts Facebook – National Shop Stewards Network
Email us on [email protected] if you want to attend and need transport
